Justice Favor, who will graduate in May with an A.S. in Labor Studies and a 3.83 GPA, has received the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.

A full-time union organizer for the Construction & General Building Laborers Local 79 and the married father of four, Favor hails from Far Rockaway, Queens, and is active in that community.

He says that he owes everything to his family and to Local 79 and aspires to be a labor leader because, “Union is life.”

He has been cited for his work with HEART 911, a team of first responders comprising members of the Fire Department of the City of New York, the City of New York Police Department, the Port Authority Police Department and the Building Trades Council of Greater New York City who bonded in the aftermath of 9/11.

He is also an active member of the college’s Student Affairs Committee and Real Affordability for All, a nonprofit community organization, which advocates for low- and moderate-income households that are increasingly priced out of their neighborhoods in New York City.

He aims to be a role model for his children. “Family is paramount,” he says. “I want to shatter the myths of what it’s like to be a young African-American. I am not an anomaly. I want my children to know that if they work hard and dedicate themselves, they will be successful. I am proud of them and they are proud of me.”

Favor calls his wife, Omego Favor, a surgical technician, the “MVP” in the family and dedicated his award to her for her support of his goals and dreams. “She is the backbone,” he says.

Favor has twice been awarded the Empire State College Foundation Louis Levine Scholarship, available to students pursuing either an associate or bachelor’s degree at the college’s Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies.

In order to be considered, applicants must demonstrate academic superiority and financial need and be an active member of a labor union. Favor also is attending The Worker Institute at Cornell, part of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, an intensive one-year program for current and emerging leaders.

As a union organizer, Favor strives every day to improve working conditions for construction workers across New York City and the state. He is at the forefront of the fight for workers’ rights to a living wage and a safe workplace.

From putting up picket lines to fighting against wage theft and coordinating press conferences, Favor has excelled in the fight for safe and career-oriented construction jobs for people in New York. He fights alongside women, undocumented immigrants and formerly incarcerated individuals for their rights in the workplace.

Favor also takes pride in volunteering for the “Stop the Violence” movement based in Rockaway, Queens, where he grew up. Twice each month, he participates in outreach to vulnerable youth at risk of getting involved in criminal mischief or gun violence in their neighborhoods.

About The Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence

Created in 1997, the award honors students who have demonstrated and achieved recognition for integrating academic excellence with accomplishments in several areas, including:

• leadership
• athletics
• community service
• creative and performing arts
• campus involvement
• career achievement.

Each year, campus presidents establish selection committees, which review nominations of exemplary students. Selected nominations are forwarded to the chancellor’s office and subject to a second round of review by a committee, which includes members of the chancellor’s office, the provost's office and other professionals at SUNY system administration. Finalists then are recommended to the chancellor for her determination.

Each award recipient receives a framed certificate and medallion, which is worn at commencement and other academic events requiring regalia.